Use Pantone Color In Adobe Illustrator

The PMS color or Pantone color is a standardized color matching system, which makes the accurate color printing possible on the custom paper boxes. The Pantone color printing is widely used for the brand names and logos of our clients. Sometimes, they are used for the specific texts and images.

However, it is a little bit tricky when our clients try to use the Pantone colors to create the artwork. They don’t know how to use the Pantone color in Adobe Illustrator. In this article, we will solve this problem by showing how to add a Pantone color to the Swatches window.

Step 1: Open the Adobe illustrator, and create a rectangle by using the rectangle tool;

Step 2: On the top menu, choose Window -> Swatches to open the swatches window;

Step 3: On the top menu, choose Window -> Swatch Libraries -> Color Books -> Pantone + Solid Coated. Then a window named PANTONE+Solid Coated will open as below with a search box on the top.

For the custom paper boxes, the printing is mostly done on the coated papers as SBS C1S, C2S, CCNB. We will usually choose the Pantone + Solid Coated by default. When a specialty paper is used, which is uncoated, we need use the Pantone + Solid Uncoated.

Step 4: Input the Pantone number inside the search box on the top of the window above, the corresponding color will be displayed inside the window below. Here we would like to use the Pantone 801 C color.

Step 5: Move the mouse pointer to the corresponding color and hold the pointer there for a little while, the pantone number for the color will pop up.

If it is just the color that you need, just click this color. Once you click the color, this pantone color will be added to the swatches window for your easy pickup. Then you can select the rectangle and fill it will this pantone color.

Step 6: Choose Windows -> Separations Preview. Then we will see the PANTONE 801 C listed in the Separations Preview window. And we can click the eye icon to check the position and effect of this Pantone color by making the color visible or invisible.

Shanghai DE Printed Box is a leading China custom paper box supplier and manufacturer. If you have a custom paper box to do, please do not hesitate to contact us for a price quote.